Applications are open for the Chevening Gurukul Fellowship for Leadership and Excellence 2025- 2026. The fellowship is aimed at young high-flyers and mid-career professionals from diverse backgrounds with strong and demonstrable leadership potential.
Opportunity Details
The Chevening Gurukul Fellowship for Leadership and Excellence is the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's flagship fellowship for India and has run for more than 20 years. The fellowship is aimed at young high-flyers and mid-career professionals from diverse backgrounds with strong and demonstrable leadership potential. The fellowship addresses issues faced by leaders in all fields and explores changing ideas and practices of leadership, looking at the implications of globalisation for Indian leaders. The fellowship is hosted by the University of Oxford within the Department of Politics and International Relations. The fellowship is funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
The 12-week Chevening Gurukul Fellowship for Leadership and Excellence at the University of Oxford starts from the premise that as an economic powerhouse of the global economy, a growing leader in science and technology, and the world’s largest democracy, India is in a pivotal position to drive forward an effective and legitimate institutional international order to meet the emerging challenges to global integration.
Every year twelve selected Gurukul Fellows will be offered an intensive, twelve-week residential course at the Department of Politics and International Relations (DPIR) at the University of Oxford to study and address these challenges through three fundamental and interlocking components focusing on academic understanding, policy relevance and personal development.
This innovative programme will familiarise India’s future leaders with an understanding of the contemporary opportunities and challenges of global integration, the leadership skills to play a leading role in meeting them, and the knowledge to translate this into policy and practice.
Gurukul Fellows will be exposed to current issues and themes impacting global leadership, including:
The Gurukul Fellowship runs from mid-September – November each year. The course includes numerous site visits in the UK and a varied cultural programme designed to integrate Gurukul Fellows into the academic and cultural life of the University and Department. Throughout the programme, fellows will develop, research and present a public policy plan while building their professional networks.
Timeline
Applications open at 12:00 BST | 6 August 2024 |
Applications close at 12:00 GMT | 5 November 2024 |
Applications are sifted against eligibility criteria | From 6 November 2024 |
Reading Committee assessments
Independent reading committees assess all eligible applications. Their scores and rankings are then passed back to local British embassies/high commissions. |
Mid-November 2024 to January 2025 |
Applicants shortlisted for interviews
Once the embassy/high commission has reviewed the applications, they produce a shortlist of those who they will invite to interview. Notifications will then follow. |
Mid-February 2025 |
References and education documents deadline | 19 February 2025 |
Interviews take place
Candidates from all over the world are interviewed by panels at British embassies and high commissions. |
26 February – 25 April 2025 |
Results announced | From May 2025 |
2025/26 Chevening Gurukul Fellowship for Leadership and Excellence runs. | September – November 2025 |
Please note this timeline is subject to change.
Each fellowship includes:
To be eligible for the Chevening Gurukul Fellowship for Leadership and Excellence you must:
* Note: Relatives are defined as parents or step-parents, siblings or step-siblings, children or step-children, spouse, civil partner or unmarried (where the couple have been in a relationship akin to marriage or civil partnership for at least two years).
Apply for Chevening Gurukul Fellowship for Leadership and Excellence